The World Health Organization(WHO) has decided to end the emergency it declared for COVID-19 more than three years ago.

In a statement Friday, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he made the decision following a recommendation from the WHO’s emergency committee. 

The committee noted that, for more than a year, the pandemic has been on a downward trend, with a high-level population-level immunity from both vaccination and infection, a decline in mortality and less pressure on health systems.

The director-general said that despite lingering uncertainty on potential mutations, the committee advised that it is time for countries to transition from emergency mode to managing COVID-19 alongside other infectious diseases, and that he agreed.

The designation, officially called a “public health emergency of international concern” issued in January 2020, was in effect for three years and four months.

Such a designation now remains for only two other diseases, mpox and polio.